Breaking Free
by Yuulle
Summary: Maybe it was because she was sick of looking at her teammate's backs, maybe it was because she realised how dangerous her job was. Whatever the reason was, it led to today, the day which Haruno Sakura became a Medic-nin.
1. Chapter 1

All her life, Haruno Sakura never had a goal. She went to the Academy because her parents told her too. She studied because she wanted her parents to be proud. She became a kunoichi because that was what people told her to do.

Sakura knew what she wanted to do in the future. Become a ninja- a job with prestige and high pension- get married, have a child, and die happy. She wanted to live normally. She was happy when her allowance came in, she was grumpy when her makeup didn't feel on point. She lived day to day with vague thoughts about future.

Then she became a Team with Naruto and Sasuke. Team 7, the Trouble Magnet as Kakashi-sensei called them, was indeed in constant trouble. The last Uchiha and Jinchuuriki in her team assured it so.

If she was honest, she felt a bit miffed. The teammates were so special with a main-character like backstory. They had such a clear goal: Sasuke wanting to avenge his family and Naruto wanting to become a Hokage. Standing next to them, Sakura felt like a washed-out figure. She didn't have a kekkai genkai like Sasuke, she didn't have some "god-mode" cheat power like Naruto, she didn't have… swagger like Kakashi-sensei.

Looking at the very _extra_ teammates, Sakura felt her worst trait rear its ugly head. Competitiveness. The trait that spilt her friendship with Ino, her once best friend. Looking at Naruto, once the bottom of the class becoming a better ninja than her made her mad. Not because Naruto was becoming better, but because Sakura wasn't becoming better like him. Sasuke and Naruto was growing in monstrous rates, but Sakura felt stagnant.

Contrary to what some people assumed, Sakura wasn't stupid. She could tell there was a clear difference of _class _in Sasuke and her skill level. She could clearly see when Naruto got serious, he was miles above her.

But you know what? She was Haruno Sakura. She was the first in Team 7 to complete tree walking. She was the one with most control of her chakra.

It was an easy road from there. "Kakashi-sensei, what's the best job using chakra control?" "A medic-nin, I suppose."

_Medic-nin. _It reminded her of Haku with his healing balms and herbs. She wondered If she would ever be as good as Haku in healing. She remembered how good Haku was at his needles, deadly accurate with keen understanding of the human body which even fooled Kakashi-sensei of Zabuza's death. Becoming like Haku seemed interesting, as if she was honouring his death. It was hard to forget Haku's peaceful and happy face as he came between Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza and the feeling of cold realization to see someone _dead. _Feeling the nagging sensation wondering if Haku could've been alive if Sakura was just a little faster, just a little stronger.

And that was why she was standing in the medicine section of the library, signing out books about basic anatomy and healing jutsu.

With a flash of her ninja ID card, she was on her way home, juggling the dozen books. Walking home, Sakura tried to think the last time she did something this voluntary.

It was a sobering thought to realise that this was the first time she checked out of book because she wanted to. Back when she attended the academy, she visited the library frequently checking out books for references. But ever since she became the official ninja of Konoha, the thoughts of library have fallen out of her head, replaced by death drills of Kakashi-sensei and stopping the two boys in her team from killing each other.

She was so caught up with following the boys, doing what they were doing that she didn't even consider doing the thing she most excelled at. Reading books, memorizing and studying.

_Wow that sounds boring. _

Why couldn't she be cool like Sasuke and her best trait to be amazing red eyes and fire breathing techniques? Why did her strength had to lie on _studying _and _chakra control? _Sakura lamented while opening the familiar front door.

"I'm home." She called out.

Her mother came around the corner wearing an apron. "Dinner's just about to be ready, set the cutle- Sakura what are all those books?"

Sakura smiled at her. "I'm going to become a medic-nin."


	2. Chapter 2

Contrary to what she believed in the Academy, it turned out that human anatomy was very interesting. In the academy, it was all "here's the kidney, you stab you die." Or "here's a heart. Blood flow arteries" but Genin Basic Anatomy 101 was more like "if you spilt a person from mouth to anus, you can stitch them back together!" It seems to try to show the various types of damages that a ninja on the field might get and basic first aid.

It started with cuts & scraps but it soon escalated to bizarre territory like "how to fix if your skin melted and your metacarpals were sticking out due to a fire jutsu." She laughed at that one, being so specific.

But here she was, witnessing exact thing

"You idiot!" She roared at the blond in front of her. Naruto's skin was red with blisters after a rumble and tumble with Sasuke. "Why did you stick your hand in the _fire?"_

Naruto scratched the back of his sheepishly. "Ahaha but Teme was annoying me." He grumbled.

Sakura sneaked a glance at Sasuke, standing handsomely, crossing his arms. _Even the way he is standing is cool. _

"Get the dobe to the hospital, I need to work on my jutsu." Sasuke said, already moving away to find a clearing to work on his fire breathing jutsu.

A month ago, Sakura would've pouted annoyed at the fact that instead of spending time with Sasuke she had to bring Naruto to the hospital. But after the Wave Mission, she felt somewhat protective of Naruto. She saw the Kyuubi and the burden Naruto carried. Although Naruto was very much still an idiot, he wasn't _so _bad.

And for the first time, Sakura didn't see Sasuke's action as _cool _she saw it as a little… mean. Although the injury was due to lack of caution on both parties, they were teammates who had each other's back. Isn't that what Wave mission showed? In that short period fighting Haku, she felt like they were a team, or at least, the boys were a team.

Perhaps it was the new confusing thoughts that helped Sakura do something that she never thought who would do, disagree with Sasuke. "I-I think we should all go." She said meekly.

Sasuke whipped back in his tracks, his oynx eyes boring into her. Sakura couldn't help but to fidget underneath the intense stare. _Oh god I'm going to get yelled by Sasuke he's gonna hate me. Oh god why did I just say that?_

Thankfully, Sasuke just grunted. "Hn" he said. Without elaborating, he walked towards Sakura. "We'll cut through training ground 5- it'll be faster."

Sakura grinned. Thankfully, Sasuke didn't find her big mouth annoying. "Y-yeah."

"I'm fineee! I can go for another round dattebayo!" Naruto whined.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, almost scared that Sasuke would continue sparring with Naruto with a half-gone hand. However, Sasuke just kept walking. "Shut up Dobe. You are too weak to continue."

"What did you say Teme? Come here right now and I'll show you!"

"Catch up then."

And with that, all there was left was the dust cloud that the boys left behind. Sakura watched as the two boys raced across the rooftops, Naruto yelling obscenities and Sasuke smirking.

Once again, she was looking at their backs.

She needed to try harder.

* * *

"I want to become a medic-nin. For real. Like Tsunade-sama" she said to Kakashi Sensei. "I want to become strong like the boys."

The droopy one-eyed ninja stared at her, surprised. She supposed that was fair considering it was 6am in the morning and she had knocked on his door until he woke up. Even though it was 6am in the morning.

"Sakura-chan. It's early." Her sensei merely said. Although probably just woken up from sleep, he didn't look sleep hazed at all.

Sakura nodded, taking the comment as an invitation to come in. "Yes sensei. Sorry for coming here so early but I wanted to talk about my career choices." She started taking her shoes off. "Can I come in?"

Kakashi-sensei looked still baffled by her appearance but nodded nevertheless. Not that he had a choice of course, she was already in his house and closing the door for him.

"It's not fair because Naruto and Sasuke-kun are so strong! As you know, I come from a civilian family so I don't have a person I can go and just ask about this stuff." She stepped into his flat, surprisingly neat and tidy. It was sparse but clean.

She heard a slight sigh behind her. "Sakura, sit down and calm down." Sensei said, pulling a chair for her.

Sakura accepted his invitation and sat down. "But I don't know how to start becoming a medic-nin. You said my chakra control is good so I've been doing some chakra exercises like the leaf floating and I've achieved that. I read through all the anatomy books in the library that a genin can access but I don't want to try out healing on –"

"Calm down." Kakashi-sensei interjected. "Let's start from the beginning. Why do you want to become strong?"

Sakura thought quietly. What can she respond with? That she wanted to become a good ninja? Because she wanted to excel at her job? Because she didn't want to lose?

At that moment, it became clear to her why the fact that she was falling behind bothering her to the point of obsession.

Embarrassed at what she was just about to admit, Sakura started at her thumbs. "I'm scared." Sakura admitted almost whispering the words.

"At Wave, I thought Sasuke-kun died and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was my fault. If I was a little faster, if I was a little stronger, maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt. I'm scared that they'll realise that I'm a burden and leave me behind." _And I'll just see their backs again. _"I just want to be part of Team 7."

With courage, Sakura glanced up to see Kakashi-sensei look uncharacteristically less slouchy and uncomfortable.

Sakura groaned inwardly. _Now Sensei will think I'm some scaredy-cat. Gosh Sakura why can't you keep it together? _

There was definitely a bout of uncomfortable silence as Sensei merely sat closing his eyes.

Just when Sakura was finished beating herself up about how silly she was being, Kakashi-sensei started speaking.

"My cute little genin." He said with his eyes doing a half smile. "You worry too much."

Sakura almost bristled at what he said. This was something she was mulling over for three months! She poured her heart and soul into memorizing all these books so she wouldn't fall behind. "But Sense-"She tried to say but was quickly silenced by the jonin's unusually sharp look.

"You are part of Team 7 and I never leave a comrade behind."

And that was that. Kakashi-sensei got up from the chair and ushered out the dazed Sakura out the door, reminding her to come to the training ground at 7 o'clock.

It was like Sakura was in a trance as she walked to grab breakfast. _You are part of Team 7 and I never leave a comrade behind. _

A part of her knew how utterly cheesy that line was but that was a line that she needed so desperately. For her sensei to tell her that she belonged here. Although a civilian background, she belonged here with the boys. Although she might not be as strong as the boys, that didn't' mean she wasn't a part of Team 7.

With that, she knew immediately what her role should be. Currently they were Team Trouble Magnet – dysfunctional, individualistic and barely functional. She will make this team- her team- into a real team. A team that looks over each other's back, spars together to become stronger, and one that keeps each other safe.

She will lead Team 7.


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura sat on her bedroom floor, surrounded by papers and various brainstorming pages. She was doing what she did best. Plan and management.

"How to make Team 7 work." When she read the title aloud, she did feel a little stupid. It's been two days since she cornered Kakashi-sensei. Since then, she can positively say that the rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto became so much worse.

She felt helpless as she watched them argue about meaningless things. She wanted to tell them "but we're a team! We shouldn't fight! Remember in Wave?" Sakura wanted to shake some sense into them but had no idea how. Not to mention she also got riled by Naruto's stupid antics sometimes.

_And I'm not even sure if they'll listen. _She thought miserably to herself. If the boys ignored her heartfelt plea to become civil to each other, she wasn't sure that she'll be able to handle the humiliation.

Sakura needed help planning and she knew exactly who to ask.

Just thinking about it made the Ugly Competitive Sakura rear her ugly head. _You don't need her help! She'll only use this to get closer to Sasuke-kun! _

But Sakura couldn't help but to remember the Sasuke-kun who wouldn't go to the hospital with Naruto after he injured him in a spar. That wasn't normal. It shattered her image of Sasuke-kun, the cool perfect ninja.

_After all we been through… _

The image of Sasuke covered with needles _dead dead dead _flashed in front of her eyes.

And yep, that was enough to motivate her.

She felt nervous as she walked the familiar path. It was only a few ago when she used to walk this path almost every day. _But because of Sasuke…_

When Sakura reached the front of the compound, she glanced around. Nothing has changed much since the last time she was here. A few more plants, maybe new children running around.

Arriving at the sliding doors, Sakura hesitating knocked. "Hi, this is Sakura. Is Ino there by any chance?"

There was a sound of scurried feet and sound of Ino's mother calling her.

The door opened to reveal Ino standing there with a puzzling look on her face. "Forehead?"

"I don't like Sasuke-kun anymore." Sakura blurted out immediately. When she practiced the line in her head, that line felt like a lie but now saying out loud, it felt like catharsis.

Ino raised her elegant eyebrows. "Come on in." She said.

Moments later, the two girls were sitting on Ino's bed, huddled in pillows and blankets. Ino took once glance at Sakura and pulled out a set of nail polish and nail art.

It was funny how Ino was so perceptive. Instead of doubting her about her claims, Ino merely lead her to her room and huddled them in pillows like how they used to.

"What happened Sakura?" Ino asked, grabbing Sakura's right hand and painting them in red with Shinobi Certified Nail Polish- no chipping, smell or glare.

The familiar and comforting presence of Ino and her room made Sakura feel so… safe. "I don't love Sasuke-kun anymore. He's not cool." Sakura said matter-of-factly. "You can have him."

Ino waggled her fingers. "Start from the top."

So Sakura did. She told her how Sasuke and Naruto hated each other, their mission in Wave and how she thought Sasuke died. She told her about Haku and his death. She told her how she realized Sasuke wasn't as cool as she thought he was. Sakura told her about her resolve to become a medic-nin and a leader of Team 7.

"That's why you're here right? You want help planning?"

Sakura smiled. This was the Ino she knew, three steps ahead in the planning and social department. "Yeah. I did some brainstorming, but I don't think I got far."

Ino bounced off the bed. "I'll go grab them. Don't move, or you'll mess up the nails."

Watching Ino eagerly draw and demonstrate the plans for "making Team 7 awesome", Sakura felt a pang of guilt for the fight they had in their late academy and genin years. To lose this friendship over a boy was _stupid. _

For the next three hours, Ino and Sakura talked about everything. Team 7, their teachers, the gossip, ways to fashion their headbands and diets. It felt good.

"So, realistically, all you have to do is follow this list. Or the general rule of hitting Naruto when he's stupid" Ino said proudly.

Sakura laughed. "Naruto isn't that bad anymore! He's still a baka but he's my teammate."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But more importantly, now you don't like Sasuke, who do you like?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know."

And from there, it was another two hours.

When Sakura came home, it was dark, but she felt light and happy. Now she knew what to do.

* * *

"Another D-rank. Clearing out Forest 19 which has been sullied to training incident." A very bored looking Chuunin stamped the form and that was that.

"Aw man, I was hoping for something for fun today. When are we going to get our C-rank?" Naruto whined.

Kakashi sensei instead of replying whipped out his orange book. "Meet me at Forest 19." He said and disappeared in a flurry of wind in typical sensei pattern.

Sasuke was silent as he walked along, and Sakura enjoyed the rare moment of peace that was occurring in Team 7.

"Oi Teme, wanna race? I bet I'll be faster."

When Sasuke merely gave a grunt, Naruto started hopping around making chicken noises. "Is the last Uchiha scared? Is he a chicken?"

Sakura watched as Sasuke's brows starting twitching in annoyance.

"Naruto! Sasuke doesn't want to race, leave him along!" She said, attempting to mediate a comflict.

Naruto immediately seems to deflate. "Sakura, you always take the Teme's side." He grumbled.

"I don't need you defending me." Sasuke said coldly.

Naruto seemed to take personal offense immediately jumping to her defense. "Hey! Sakura-kun's just trying to help you Teme! You should be grateful not a jerk."

Sasuke sneered. "I don't care what a dead-last thinks." He said.

Normally at this stage, Sakura would just sigh. There was no hope when the boys were this riled. However, today she was going to be different.

All the annoyances and grievances piled up inside her exploded.

_Time to try out the plan I made with Ino_

Sweet Sakura, one that was demure starting yelling. "Alright!"

The two boys turned to her startled. Naruto seemed scared while Sasuke looked like he was feigning indifference.

"Stop – being – little – shits!" Sakura said, swearing for impact.

It seemed like it worked because Naruto and Sakura were rooted to the ground, with their eyes wide.

"You! You stop trying to rile Sasuke up." She said pointing at Naruto. Before Naruto can defend himself, Sakura continued pointing at Sasuke. "You! Stop being such a jerk!"

"We are a team! We are responsible for each other's _lives! _Instead of fighting, we should be working together so we don't die!"

Their faces turned solemn and she had no doubt that they were remembering incidents when the team was in danger.

"Naruto, I know that Sasuke can be a "Teme" but stop trying to wind him up every second. There's no need to compete! He's your precious person isn't he? Treat him like it!"

"Sasuke, stop being cold. We are a team! You have a rely on us. You said that your brother told you that having friends is a liability? Wake up! Look around! All the strong ninjas- sensei, Hokage-sama and even Zabaza had a partner they worked together!"

"From now, I'm going to leave if you guys start fighting and refuse to apologise to each other. I'm going to leave Team 7, which will leave you two teamless and drifting. Am I clear?"

Sakura after the bout of yelling felt light headed from the shouting. Her heart hammered in her chest and her palms were becoming so sweaty. Thousands of thoughts crossed her head. Maybe she crossed a line in her speech?

What did Ino tell her to do after this? Right, time for the carrot.

"I-I remember when I thought Sasuke died." Sakura whispered, meeting the two boys squarely in the eyes. "I don't ever want to lose you two again. We need to have each other's backs. We need to be a team."

To her dismay, Sakura felt the telltale sign of the hotness in her eyes. As she blinked away the tears, she noted how good it felt to let all the feelings out to her teammates.

It was Naruto who first broke the silence. "I'm sorry!" He said, barreling into Sakura and giving her a hug. "I don't want to lose you either! It's just that Teme is a bastard but I promise I'll be better. Don't cry Sakura-chan."

Hugging Naruto, Sakura glanced that Sasuke, nervous. _What if he rebuffs me? _

"I'm… sorry." Sasuke almost gritted out.

"Yeah! This is Teme's way of promising to be better!" Naruto said, he pumped his fist up to the air. "We'll be the best team in the world, dattebayo."

Sakura raised her eyebrows expectedly at Sasuke, showing the hug. It was almost a battle of will but Sasuke lost and almost grudgingly joined the hug.

The three genins was enveloped in a warm embrace and Sakura felt maybe, everything was going to turn out well.

"Team 7." She whispered

"Team 7!" Naruto cheered.

"Team 7." Sasuke responded, his voice mellowed.

"My, my, what are my cute genins doing?" A lazy voiced called out.

Naruto and Sasuke tried to disengage in embarrassment and maybe to respond to Sensei. But there was no way Sakura was going let them go right now.

"Me and my boys are enjoying a moment. You should join in, Sensei. _Or _I'm going to steal all your Icha Icha books." She said in the most authoritative voice she can manage.

Kakashi sensei looked surprised, his eyes drifting off the orange book for once. "You wouldn't."

Sakura tried to look as convincing as she could. "I know where you live."

Looking mildly horrified, Kakashi sensei gave them the briefest most _awkward _hug in the existence of hugs.

For a whole second, Team 7 had a group hug. Although everyone looked uncomfortable, Sakura grinned widely.

_Team 7 _

_"I've always considered myself to be a true ninja… but those were just empty words, because Sasuke and Naruto were always in the lead! But now it's my turn to take the lead, and all of you can watch me from the background!" _


	4. Chapter 4

"Team 7 vs. Kakashi." Kakashi-sensei said.

Sakura, who was reading a medical book leading on Naruto's lap immediately sat up. "Only two hours late, sensei!" She said cheerily.

Naruto, who was trying to do the chakra exercise which Sakura assigned to him- sticking a leaf on his forehead- immediately stood up and waggled his fingers accusingly. "You're LATE!"

Sasuke ignored this scene entirely and continued doing is katas.

It was a typical day of Team 7 really, the three of them met an 8am, starting with a light spar and waited for sensei. Normally, they would go to the missions desk and continue on with a mission.

"Us versus you, sensei?" Sakura asked warily. Although sensei was slouching with the very typical Icha Icha in hand, he had a mischievous glint in his eyes that made her feel uneasy.

Sensei curved his eyes into a smile. "It's like roleplay. You are missing-nins who stole the village secrets and I have to hunt you down."

Sasuke stopped his Katas. In fact, everyone stopped moving.

Naruto, the courageous brash Naruto hesitated. "So like, is it hide and seek?"

Sensei tossed a scroll on the ground. "You have to deliver this scroll which contains the village secrets to the main gates of Konoha. It's simple."

_Oh no. _

There was a reason why everyone hesitated because the _one _time the team played tickle tag – tag but you got tickled until you could escape if you got caught – Kakashi-sensei managed to hang all three of the up-side down and tickling feather until he decided it was boring. Which was two hours later.

They knew firsthand how evil he could be.

Sakura sneaked a glance at Naruto and Sasuke who was undoubtedly all thinking the same thing, their jaw set in determination.

"I'll give you fifteen minutes to discuss. You can go anywhere in Konoha. Don't worry, I'll find you." With that chilling remark, Sensei left.

Sakura took a big giant breath. "Let's hide."

Naruto nodded with great enthusiasm. "We'll hide and ambush Kakashi-sensei. He'll never see it coming! Great plan Sakura!" he remarked.

"I also agree with the dobe." Sasuke said.

It felt odd to hear Sasuke saying that he agreed with Naruto but it made her heart feel warm and fuzzy. After her breakdown? Sasuke was a lot more open with comments and conversation, engaging with the team and it felt _wonderful. _

Sakura closed her eyes in contemplation. "I think the best bet is for one of us to get caught on purpose, tell him the scroll is somewhere else, and ambush on that spot." She said.

"Beating Kakashi one-on-one is impossible and two-on-one is no different. Our best bet would be to not get discovered." Sasuke said, disagreeing.

Naruto bounced on his feet, impatient. "Then let's just go charging at him! We'll keep him distracted while one of us scurries to the gate!"

Sasuke sighed. "How is there different from Sakura's plan, dobe? Open your ears."

Two weeks ago, Naruto would've leapt up in indignation and argued but this Naruto just scratched his head. "Ehehe sorry Sakura! I'm just not good with all this planning."

"No, I can say Sensei wouldn't be expecting Naruto's plan and we'll have the element of surprise… but really, we can't beat him like this."

"Realistically, we can't beat him. That limits our options severely." Sasuke said. Sakura could see that it almost physically harmed him to admit his own deficiency but it was true, Team 7 couldn't take on a jonin.

Then, it struck her.

"Well, actually, there is a way."

* * *

"Fox! Formation A" Sakura called out sharply. Although they were in village where everything knew them, it was good practice to talk in codenames for practice.

Sakura leapt through the trees, wind rustling in her ears. Since she discovered that her chakra was her best quality, she had been working on enhancing her muscles with chakra for super human strength.

First thing to increase was her speed as she could do a short burst of high speed.

"INCOMING!" Naruto yelled from above. "Kage no Bunshin Jutsu!"

Sakura fixated her eyes on the sliver haired jonin almost leisurely hopping one branch to another. In her peripheral vision, she saw the orange blur go past as Naruto and his clones went bustling past.

"Shuriken no Jutsu: Eight Point Barrier!" Sakura said while throwing the 8 shuriken attached to a barrier. This was a simple barrier seal, broken when one moves to kunai too much and makes it unstable.

Just like clockwork, before the seal can be implemented, few Narutos slipped out. When the kunai embedded itself on the ground, a Naruto each stood next to the corner, making sure it didn't move from Sensei's fight.

Sakura watched as the barrier filled with smoke of Narutos disappearing and new Narutos being made.

She knew this seeming equilibrium wouldn't last long as sensei was clearly taking his time just doing taijutsu.

Now it was just a question of stalling until Sasuke came.

While the smoke obscured the vision in the limited space of the barrier, Sasuke put down an electricity barrier around the already made barrier. She covered the barrier with explosions tags, haphazardly throwing them on knowing she had no time.

When she was a third of a way done covering the barrier with explosion tags, she heard Sensei shot out, "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Immediately, all the clones dispersed, and the barrier collapsed, causing the explosion tags to go off, setting up the electricity.

Sakura, who was standing close in order to stick the tags on felt few sparks of the electricity hit her on the arms in a painful manner.

"Earth Release: Earth-style wall!" As dirt wall rose up, Sensei slipped underneath to hide from the massive impact.

Sakura glanced at Naruto who was sitting on the tree opposite her. Although she planned to put only his clones inside the barrier, she didn't expect for sensei to demolish them so soon.

"Time to fight, Otter?" Naruto questioned.

Sakura nodded.

From there, Sakura knew they had less than ten minutes. Even if sensei took things easy, there was no way the two of them could last more than ten minutes.

When Naruto spammed the many clones and create an opening, Sakura used her chakra enhancement to burst in high speed and enhanced strength creating pressure on him.

"Genjutsu: Discombobulation!" Doing a quick ox sign, Sakura attempted to cast at Kakashi sensei.

The Genjutsu was supposed to make the person dizzy as if they've had a concussion but Kakashi-sensei merely closed his eyes and continued fighting with Naruto.

_He didn't even bother breaking it! _

Sakura felt a tiny bit insulted.

And when Sakura got mad, she got _real _mad.

"Sharanno!" She yelled, moving into the more center of the fight.

Instead of using her strength on short bursts, she applied her chakra everywhere.

Now she moved quickly and threw deadly punches. It wasn't much but it was enough to make time for the Narutos to regroup and attack a different way.

"Doton: Iwa Tounyuu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Rock Throw Technique)!" Sakura was pretty nervous about this because it was her first time using it actual combat.

The handful of dirt in her hands immediately solidified into a rock. With enhanced chakra, she threw it at sensei, tagging kunai tags around it hoping it'll be hard to dodge.

"Kawarimi" Sensei almost _lazely _drawled, body replacing himself and leaving behind a –

_Shit _

"Fox!" She called out and Naruto immediately jumped back in time for the log Kakashi-sensei used to replaced with to explode in million pieces.

The wood chips rained and pelted on them. _Time to regroup. _She thought desperately moving towards Naruto.

Kakashi sensei pulled out his book, "If your plan is for Sasuke to deliver the scroll while you distract me, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson on _clones." _

"Every funny sensei, we have the clone expert on our team." Sakura retorted.

Naruto seemed to gather all his energy in that short second and burst to Kakashi-sensei with a quick "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Sakura could feel sensei being disappointed at lack of strategy and attack and disappointed sensei meant bored sensei. And that, meant torture.

She dropped a low kick combined with an upper cut. Already used to not being able to hit him, she added a kunai to the mix.

She could honestly say that the two-on-one lasted exactly 55 seconds.

"My cute students, I think we need to have a lesson on-"

"THE BRIGHT LIGHT OF YOUTH BURNS BRIGHT!" A loud voice interjected.

And sensei disappeared in smoke.

_Victory! _

"I brought him." Sasuke said standing next to a very green clothed person.

Naruto immediately rose to the bait. "How is he going to help? He's just a bushy-brow. You're late Teme!"

Sakura sighed. "Hello, we are Team 7. Did Sasuke-kun tell you about our mission?" Although asking politely, she couldn't help but to look away due to the shining light? The extravagant energy? The person was emitting. The green spandex was a bold impression but his personally seemed to be bolder.

"Yosh! I'm Maito Gai, Sensei of Team Gai. Your youthful teammate recruited me to help you guys defeat my rival! Kakashi!"

There was perhaps too many information in that sentence.

"Yosh! Let's work together and defeat the evil-sensei!" Naruto almost yelled in return.

The testosterone was suffocating. Sakura glanced at Sasuke who rolled his eyes in return.

"We're the traitors, remember?" Sasuke chided.

Naruto was far beyond roleplay now he was invested in beating sensei. "We'll tickle sensei for two hours when we capture him! Just like he did to us!"

Sakura cleared her throat sensing that the situation was wildly spiraling out of control. "Okay, Gai-sensei. Our mission is to deliver these scrolls to the main gate. Would you be able to help us?"

To her horror, he seem to almost tear up. "It is my greatest honour to help the youthful students of Kakashi! I will beat you my rival!" He said while pumping his fists to the air.

"Plan." Sasuke said, glancing at Sakura.

_He's relying on me to come up with a plan? _Sakura almost squealed in happiness. Her little project of 'make team 7 an actual team' seemed to be coming into fruition.

Sakura smiled sneakily. She knew exactly what to do.


	5. Chapter 5

"My Eternal Rival!" The green spandex next to her yelled.

Sakura grinned as she saw Kakashi-sensei freeze whilst turning the page in his Icha Icha books.

Instead of disappearing like how he did for the past three times her team tracked sensei down, Kakashi-sensei stood up.

Sakura could honestly say that she had never seen him this weary.

"Hey Gai, thanks for looking after my ducklings." He greeted.

Whilst the two males were exchanging some great banter, Sakura tapped her fingers against her arms impatiently, trying to judge how much time she needed to stall.

"Your Youthful Students have asked me to help in their most incredible mission to defeat you, my Eternal Rival so I accepted in a heartbeat!"

Kakashi-sensei already looked defeated in life talking to the other ninja and Sakura tried not a laugh.

"I guess you need a lesson in strategy, Sakura." Sensei remarked almost absentmindedly.

Immediately, pull of dread piled in her stomach. Did he already see through her brilliant plan? Sakura plastered on an exasperated smile. "Sensei, it's a little hard to battle an incredible smart amazing ninja."

She rolled her eyes when Kakashi-sensei pretended to look around. "Incredible smart amazing ninja? Where's that person? All I see is my rival and myself, your old sensei."

And from there, Sakura became certain that she won this battle. It had already passed the 15 minutes which she wanted to stall.

"I believe all you see is _Naruto _and yourself, sensei." She said smugly.

With a puff, the green ninja next to her turned into the familiar orange jumpsuit.

"Gotcha!" The blond yelled excitedly, dancing around. "Sakura-chan, you're amazing! We totally fooled sensei!"

Sensei raised his eyebrows. "How come?"

Sakura opened her arms, inviting Naruto for a hug which he took so excitedly, almost barreling into her with happiness. She started to feel giddy thinking that she got away with the plan.

"I knew that you probably had a clone waiting at the gate and I knew we wouldn't be able to beat you! So, I sent Gai-sensei disguised as Naruto with Sasuke. They should be arriving and giving the scrolls to the gates right now."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Sakura-chan saw how you ran away when Gai came! She told me to become the green spandex shiny ninja and to do all the "Eternal Rival thing!". Did I do a good job, Sakura-chan? I felt pretty cool and sneaky!"

Sakura chuckled. "Yeah, it was pretty cool." She replied, raising her hands for a high five which was immediately reciprocated.

Sakura beamed her smuggest smile at Kakashi-sensei. "We won!"

Kakashi-sensei plopped on the floor. "A ninja must see underneath and underneath"

It was like sudden PTSD of the survival test they took as Genins and all the times that Kakashi-sensei seems to see through all their carefully crafted plan. That phrase brought literal fear and uneasiness.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked cautiously.

With no dramatic flair, Sensei disappeared in smoke.

Naruto jumped up, startled. "Where did he go?"

_Shit _

"That's not real Kakashi-sensei! That's a clone!"

Naruto's eyes seem to light up suddenly understanding what's happening. "Then Sensei is with… Sasuke?"

"He's must've seen through our plan! Let's go to the gates to help Sasuke." _If he wasn't getting his arse kicked already._

Naruto nodded jerkily and the two of them immediately headed towards the gates.

They ran through the roofs of the buildings, hoping that they weren't too late.

Sakura sighed, wondering how Sensei figured out her plan. She thought it was pretty flawless. First, recruiting Gai-sensei to throw sensei off. That part worked perfectly.

Second, subversion of expectation. Since Kakashi-sensei would be expecting them to set up Gai-sensei with him while Team 7 went to deliver the scrolls, Sakura thought she was being clever. She henged Naruto into Gai-sensei, and the actual Gai-sensei into Naruto.

While disguised Naruto bought time sprouting springtime of youth to Kakashi-sensei, she thought Gai-sensei disguised as Naruto would be able to break through the Kakashi-sensei clone at the main gate.

However, instead of the real Kakashi-sensei being with Sakura, he was at the front gate.

She tried not to be intensely annoyed by the uncanny mind-reading strategist that her sensei was but really, it was getting annoying.

Sensei was master at, "looking underneath and underneath" as he called out their bluff of Gai-sensei.

While cursing the silver haired sensei in her mind, Sakura saw a big explosion happening at the training ground near the front gate.

Sakura and Naruto quickly exchanged a glance, sharing the each other's thought of "that's definitely our team making the ruckus."

When they arrived, the training around was almost re-terrained with new formations with rocks and trees sticking out in different directions. Sasuke stood apart with his Sharingan activated and Gai sensei and Kakashi-sensei was having some sort of Mexican standoff.

"Brief?" Sakura said to Sasuke.

"Gai-sensei revealed his self, dropping the henge as Naruto and starting with Kakashi. I don't think he's a clone, so the clone must've been yours."

Naruto nodded. "We were talking and the next thing we knew, he poofed! Out of existence! That's the real Kakashi-sensei."

"He had us all fooled." Sakura commented grimly.

"Plan?" Sasuke retorted.

Sakura closed her eyes. The tried subterfuge and ambushes. What was left?

She took a quick glance as Sasuke and Naruto who was just staring back at her. _The hell with it. _

"Team 7?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's kick some ass."

* * *

They did not kick ass.

Rather, it would be more correct to say they got their asses handed to them.

Although Gai-sensei was there, he did nothing to stop the 'educational blows' that sensei sent to their ways, saying that it built character in their 'youths'.

They got a little caught up with the whole trying to beat Kakashi-sensei into pulp aspect of the plan that they forgot about the handing the scroll over part. It was so exciting to see someone actually counter Kakashi-sensei after being batted around by him for so long.

But that did mean they failed their mission, which meant extra 10 laps around the village.

"Sensei isn't even here do we _have _to run? I bet he doesn't even know." Naruto complained.

"I bet he does." Sasuke responded chillingly.

Sakura couldn't agree more with Sasuke said. "He's a demon." She responded breathlessly jumping through the roofs of the fish market.

They ran steadily for three more laps before she started to get bored.

"Tag?" She suggested.

She grinned at the boys' eyes lit up in competitive fire. The two didn't even respond but merely sped forwards in silent acknowledgement of 'you're it.'

_That's more like it. _

Sakura was practicing her speed with chakra enhancing her muscles ever since Kakashi-sensei told her that chakra control was her biggest ability. Time to see how she measured against the boys.

With a big measured breath, she pumped her chakra into her legs like she's practiced countless times in her mind.

She bent her legs, braced for takeoff.

And she felt her body lurch forwards in almost impossible manner. As she suddenly sped up, it felt like her organs were being pushed forward in ways she wasn't ready. Her stomach felt queasy and she felt disorientated.

The surroundings next to her turned into a blur as she jumped forwards a one big step. One minute she was standing on a fish market roof, the next a roof of an apartment complex.

She turned back to see how far she had come to see Sasuke and Naruto _behind _her.

She had actually jumped so far, she passed Sasuke and Naruto.

"Holy shit." She let out loud.

Naruto and Sasuke suddenly faced by her looked very confused as they branched off to different directions, but Sakura were more concerned about what just happened.

Pumping the chakra into her body made a whole lot of difference. So much that she was actually better than the boys at a physical skill and aspect not just _brain planning skills. _

Her reserves were small, but this amount of chakra didn't dent much, she could do this about 100-200 time with no worries.

It was like doors of new possibility opened in front of her.

_Chakra enhancements. _

"Wow! Sakura-chan! That's _awesome! _You went like _zoom _to _zoom _it was so fast!" Naruto cheered, calling out.

_Damn right I did._

Sasuke caught up as well, looking curious. "How did you do that?"

Sakura beamed at the boys as flurry of warmth invaded her chest. _She did something special! _

Like Naruto with his clones and Sasuke with the Sharingan, she now had her _chakra enhancement _which was just cool to the freaking boot.

"I channeled my chakra to my legs, focusing on the muscles and the tension." She tried to explain, pointing to her hamstrings.

"Your knowledge of human anatomy and muscles must be why it you can yield chakra better than us." Sasuke commented.

"I haven't thought of that." She responded but realized it must be true. The boys also used chakra to make their body do supernatural feats, but it wasn't as intense as her. The fact that she studied the human body must've made her familiar with the three main muscles in the leg and the amount of chakra needed for different acts.

_All the things this skill can be applied to._

Her hands itched for research. She wondered if there were any other ninjas who used chakra enhancement as their main skill.

But now wasn't the time for that

"Race still on?" Sakura asked, grinning impishly.

Naruto backed down a challenge no matter how futile the odds were. "You bet!" He said and with that, he sped forward.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to say something in lines of _unfairness _but tag was tag. He dutifully sped forward.

Sakura watched the back of the two boys but instead of watching them get further and further away from her like she always had, she jumped forward with everything she had.

And like that, she was in front of them.


End file.
